In Russia, the most memorable episodes in the area of social relations in 2013 were about union rights, according to a survey by the Center for social and labor rights, published on January 16. “The situation is contradictory: one the one hand, pressure over unions is increasing, but on the other, they are winning victories,” commented the author of the survey, Piotr Bizioukov, a sociologist. “Maybe pressure has made them more activist.” The first event mentioned by the experts interviewed (lawyers and union leaders) is a Constitutional Court ruling on unions’ structure.
Union members in prison. Considered as a victory for the Russian union movement, this verdict issued on October 24, 2013 recognizes their right to independently determine their internal structure, by virtue of the freedom to assemble. Indeed, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor’s Office challenged the legal nature of some status changes implemented in 2010 by some civil service and gas, oil and construction workers’ unions. “Big Russian unions – in oil, gas and...
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